When do they announce who won the presidential election? [Video]

WASHINGTON — After polls close on election night, attention shifts to The Associated Press and the major television networks to report the results and announce who will be the next president. 

Some years, that official race call has come within hours of the first polls closing. But in recent years, it’s taken longer to know for sure which candidate has won enough electoral votes to win the White House. 

The AP has counted the vote on which many leading news organizations base their projections and declare winners since 1848.

In the 2020 presidential election, AP declared Joe Biden the winner four days after Election Day – at 11:26 a.m. ET on Saturday, Nov. 7.

In 2012, AP declared at 11:38 p.m. ET on election night that Barack Obama had been re-elected, beating Republican candidate Mitt Romney. The AP call came after determining that Obama had won Colorado, thereby exceeding …